America's Greatest Sin

 America's greatest sin. Have you ever thought about that? What is the dark spot on America's story? Abortion? Sexual perversion? Prejudice? What comes to your mind?

Years ago, pastor Mitchell preached a message in Prescott call America's Greatest Sin. He told us that that sin was covetousness. This would have been in the late 1970's. The great America that Mr. Trump wanted to regain.

Let's let our minds go back to the Bible for some pertinent thoughts.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24

"But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1Tim. 6:9-10

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:3

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." 1Tim. 6:6-8

So, Christ and Paul both gave clear instruction about money and wealth. They also gave clear instruction on how to be saved. The Bible is our guide for living, not the Protestant reformation.

The Measure of Success

 What is the measure of success? Bigger is better? Nickels, noses, and noise? Are we following what the Bible teaches? Or are we forcing the Word of God to reflect our worldly world view?

Pastor Mitchell was a good man. Was he the best preacher? The best pastor? The best leader? What did pastor Mitchell do that triggered revival? What inner weight of righteousness prompted the Holy Spirit to be poured out on a tiny church in Prescott?

Solomon was one of the greatest kings of his era. And yet he understood that it was by luck of birth that he became king. That it was God, not Solomon, who made him great. Wise king Solomon even wrote;  "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all."

I have heard men at conference speak words that were not worth hearing. They have bigger churches, but they are not bigger men. I know that there are couples who dread attending any conference because they feel worthless and unwanted because they have a small church. So here is a question we must answer: are the average churches as valuable as the larger ones? Is a church of 75 as valuable as the church of 700? If the churches of 500 or more are what is important, then let those churches have the conference for the elites and let the rest of us stay home.

I want to remind us all of a basic Bible doctrine. " For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

We are only saved because God is rich in mercy. He gives us faith to be saved. He loved us before we ever even thought about Christ. Ministry of any kind is a gift of Divine grace, not innate ability. Our righteousness is still filthy rags no matter how influential we become.

The danger for our Fellowship is that we adopt the error of meritocracy into our structure. 

"Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty four elders fall down before before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." Revelation 4:9-11

I know that the wisdom of the poor is despised. But they are still wise. Wisdom is justified. Success does not make you smarter or wiser or morally superior. It makes you lucky.

Lessons to be Learned

 In Genesis chapter 33 we read the story of Jacob's return to his homeland after his sojourn with Laban. Jacob is leading his large family and all of his livestock back to Canaan. During this trip Jacob encounters his brother Esau. But I want to look at one particular aspect of that encounter.

In verse 12-14 We read that Esau wanted to travel with Jacob but Jacob gave the following reason for this not to happen.

"But Jacob said to him, My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and heards which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die." Genesis 33:13.

In the end all of the strong warriors returned with Esau. The men, women, children, and livestock remained under Jacob's care. The men traveled hard and fast. Jacob took the pace best suited for the whole group. 

We learned that you cannot disciple the whole church. Jesus chose out the disciples and worked with them separate from the crowd. So in any church there will be those called to pastoral ministry who need special training and attention and there are the rest of us who just need ministered to without the unnecessary pressure reserved for the disciples. You run with the runners, but you minister to everyone. If you push the whole church too hard some will die. Or at least they may drift off and look elsewhere for ministry.

We support the vision of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting even though we are involved personally in none of those activities. We can pray, we can give, and we stand with our pastor in his vision. It is a wise preacher who accepts us as we are and where we are and seeks for wisdom on how to minister the whole council of God to the whole church.

RIP Kathy

 It was nine years ago today that my wife, Kathy, died. We were teenagers when we were married by pastor Mitchell in Prescott in 1974. We were grandparents in 2014 when pastor Mitchell did Kathy's memorial service in Prescott.

Today is not a day of sadness for me. Today is not a day of regret or remorse or what if. It is a day to remember a life lived. It is a day to remember the one who stuck by me when other women might have walked away. I was a blessed man to have been married to Kathy for 40 years. I am grateful that I survived the years of grieving her death. I am grateful now to be where I am in life.

Grieving is simply the proof that we loved someone. I loved Kathy to the end. I am glad that I had her by my side until the day that she died. Now she is where we all want to be.

RIP my dear. You are still missed.

The Ark or the Titanic?

 I read an interesting thought today. They wrote that the Ark was built by amateurs, But the Titanic was built by professionals. The Ark was built with God's help. The Titanic sailed in defiance to God. Someone said about the Titanic that even God himself could not sink her. The Titanic sank after only four days at sea. Did God sink the Titanic? All I will say is only a fool would dare to defy God and mock Him especially in reference to the work of mere men.

Noah and his sons were not professional ship builders. But they had God's plans and they had God's design and they had God's blessing and they had God's help. The ark survived and the world did not.

"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. ..." Psalm 127:1a

Which ship would you rather be on in the storms and icebergs of life?

Post Conference Thoughts

 Now that conference in Prescott is over I have come to some decisions that I hope will make living here easier for me.

1. I cannot watch or care about the Prescott church any more. That is a part of a life that I no longer live. And though it is familiar, it is all behind me now. I have moved on from the Prescott church and I am now a part of the body of Christ in San Antonio.

2. I have good memories of the many years that I lived in Prescott. I am in the process of making new memories here. I intend to live here for many years should Jesus tarry. I will enjoy the memories I have but I will not dwell on them anymore.

3. I will never attend conference in Prescott again. I have moved on. They have moved on. 

4. I thought about watching some more of the conference services. I will not do that. It is of no interest to me.

So that about sums it up. While I do not have deep roots and history in San Antonio this is where I call home now. In the two years of living here I have begun to put down roots here. Only the rapture will be strong enough to uproot me from my new home.

Prescott Conference Announcements

 If you are interested or curious as to what happened at conference in Prescott you can visit the Prescott Potter's House website and click on the conference announcements tab and they will be listed there.

Topical or Expository Preaching?

 Here are some thoughts from my preaching 101 series. I was not a good pastor. But I could put together a sermon.

Expository preaching is boring. The Bible is an ancient book. Explaining the Bible is boring. It is the letter without the spirit.  The people mentioned in the Bible have been dead for thousands of years. Once you have read their stories you realize that it never changes. So explaining what Moses or David or Paul or even Jesus felt or thought or the motivation behind their actions is old news. It always turns out the same. Old time radio preachers tend to be expository preachers. They talk a lot but say nothing that is of any help today.

Topical preaching is basically taking one subject or one topic and studying the Bible to find how to apply the living Word to real life situations. Pastor Mitchell tended to be a topical preacher. You could learn how to live a Christian life by listening to his sermons. Good preaching applies the Bible to the modern world. This is preaching that the Holy Spirit can use to touch people.

Doctrine is only dead and dry when you only explain it and neglect to apply it.

Pentecostals seem to think that all they need to do is set themselves on fire with the Holy Ghost and people will flock to watch them burn. That might work for an evangelist.  If you are going to shepherd God's flock you have to be deeper than your salvation story. You must rightly divide the word of truth. You must be able to help common people apply God's word to their circumstances here and now.

Death to self is when you want a new 4x4 and she wants a pretty necklace and you buy the necklace.

Solomon And His Instagram Worthy Romance

 If you are a Bible student you know doubt have read the Song of Solomon. I had a couple of thoughts involving this story in the Bible.

First, have you ever wondered why Solomon had so many wives and concubines? How many is not important. It was a different culture than we are accustomed to. But Solomon went overboard in romance and marriage. I wonder if Solomon had a lust problem? He could not keep his eyes and his royal hands off of the ladies. Solomon put Frank Sinatra to shame.

Second, I wonder about the young girl in the Song of Solomon. Was she a real girl? Was she really one of Solomon's conquests? Or was the girl in the story an Instagram girl, a figment of Solomon's imagination? Maybe she was a composite of the top of the list romances that Solomon enjoyed? You will be sadly disappointed to think that your romance needs to match the epic romance of the Song.

Finally, when you live in a fantasy world the real world will never satisfy you. Porn does this to people today. Hollywood romance does it too. The shallow world of modern music and television paint a picture that no real person would ever be able to match up to. I think the reason Solomon kept marrying young girls was he was looking for the perfect girl that lived in his vivid imagination. Only a king or a very rich and powerful man could pursue this fantasy. 

That's my thoughts. Jesus talked about Solomon but never quoted him. Solomon is a picture of excessive wealth and privilege with no restraint. For a great king and and a man who God spoke to he is not someone to pattern your life after.

Faith is Faith

 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

I recently heard a scientist say that faith is believing in something for which you have no actual or scientific evidence. People believe that there is life in the solar system even though there is zero evidence that life as we know it could exist. Evolutionists believe based on their book by Charles Darwin.

We believe in a God we have never seen and in a book that was written thousands of years ago. The Christian life is a life of faith. 

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2Corinthians 5:7

Evolutionists are praised for their faith but we are criticized for our faith. We have the evidence of a changed life. They have evidence of fossils that change nothing.

It is the hatred of certain people for God that causes them to be ridiculous in their conclusions. 

"And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

It is the moral choices that people make that make them not only hide from God, but hate Him. This makes God just in His assessment and actions toward evil people.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Romans 1:18

This is the nature of sinful men and women. Without Christ we live as rebels and enemies of God. To the bitter end.

"But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands..." Revelation 9:20

"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions..." Romans 1:24,26

God loves us and will help us. But remember, the first word of the Gospel is repent.